In late 2015, Benito bypassed traditional record label hierarchies by publishing self-produced tracks directly to SoundCloud. The timing was critical. The urban music landscape in the Caribbean was undergoing an evolution. Southern hip-hop rhythms, characterized by rolling 808 bass lines and down-tempo hi-hats, were colliding with raw Puerto Rican Spanish wordplay to create Latin trap.
While many contemporaries imitated American Atlanta trap literally, Benito brought a distinctive sensibility. His baritone voice was heavy, slow, and saturated with local colloquialisms. Songs like "Diles" and "Soy Peor" gained traction on digital playlists without mainstream radio backing. The tracks captured the frustration, longing, and hedonism of Puerto Rican youth facing economic austerity.
When influential producer DJ Luian stumbled across "Diles" on SoundCloud in mid-2016, Benito was still working his routine shifts at Supermercados Econo. Luian drove to Vega Baja to sign the young artist to the Hear This Music imprint. Within weeks, Benito clocked out of his grocery job for the final time. Yet the ethos developed during those unglamorous shifts, a relentless, self-reliant output, remained his primary operating mechanism.
